Barnow and Associates, P.C. News

Saying a “trifling loss” is still a loss under state consumer protection laws, a federal appeals panel has reopened the book on a potential class action lawsuit against Barnes & Noble over a 2012 data breach that cost customers some time and money in protecting themselves from potential identity theft, and which the appellate judges took care to note also victimized the chain of big box bookstores.

A federal judge in Chicago has shredded, for now, a block of class action lawsuits that piled up last year against Kraft, Walmart, Target, the parent company of Jewel Food Stores and others over the contents of their grated Parmesan cheese, saying he did not believe the plaintiffs could prevail in asserting the containers of “100 percent” cheese were deceptively marketed.

Saying plaintiffs would be hard pressed to demonstrate precisely how otherwise-protected information may have ended up on police vehicle crash reports, a Chicago federal judge has refused to allow a class action lawsuit to proceed against St. Louis-based personal injury firm Meyerkord & Meyerkord, accused of purchasing traffic crash reports and using personal information from those reports to solicit business from potential clients.

A Chicago appeals courts has affirmed a lower court ruling that shelved a class-action suit against Sears, Roebuck & Co., which alleged the retail giant sold credit card holders’ personal data to telemarketers, because card holders took no financial hit as a result of Sears’ action.

A federal judge will allow an Illinois couple to continue their lawsuit against online information provider LexisNexis and a subsidiary company, saying the couple had done enough to establish they may be able to prove the companies violated federal law by selling traffic crash reports to personal injury lawyers, who then used the information in the reports to send targeted marketing materials to offer their legal services should those involved in the traffic accidents wish to sue.

A California man has dished out a potential class action lawsuit against Quaker Oats, alleging the maker of popular breakfast foods should pay because it doesn’t include enough real maple in its maple-flavored oatmeal to satisfy consumer law.

The blizzard of litigation filed against Volkswagen in the wake of revelations the automaker allegedly installed devices on diesel cars to fool emissions testing equipment has been redirected to federal court in San Francisco. Across the country, more than 500 lawsuits - primarily class action complaints - have been lodged in federal district courts against Volkswagen. In the Northern District of Illinois, for instance, 19 such lawsuits have been filed against VW.

The class action lawsuits continue to pile up against Volkswagen over allegations it installed devices to fool government emissions testing equipment, both in Chicago’s courtrooms and in courts across the country. As of Oct. 8, more than 400 class actions have been filed in federal district courts in states throughout the U.S. against the automaker, and more continue to be added.